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Technology is transforming workplace communication by making it easier and more informal,
but is the casual exchange of emojis and GIFs good for business?

Adding chat and texts to already numerous emails and phone calls means many workers
are “bombarded by communications,” in large part because of technological advancement,
Dennis Collins, senior director of marketing at conference technology provider West
Unified Communications, told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 17. These new methods of communication
are “mostly to blame for the degradation of communications among employees,” he said.

People are communicating more than ever but aren’t talking about the things they need
to talk about, and that’s extremely costly when it comes to productivity and engagement,
Stacey Engle, executive vice president at leadership development firm Fierce Inc.,
told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 17. Moreover, informal communication can also create more
opportunities for misunderstandings between co-workers, Engle said. “If workers are
not intentional with their words, then the lines between professional and personal
relationships can be blurred,” she said.

In fact, researchers from the University of Amsterdam
found that use of emojis in online business interactions resulted in perceptions of low
competence, and in turn undermined information-sharing between workers.

But informal communications have value, especially with remote workers, Collins noted.
Social media platforms for instant messaging or chat rooms give remote workers the
opportunity for random conversations that they traditionally would have missed out
on because they’re not in the office and aren’t privy to water cooler discussions,
he said.

Moreover, emojis have the ability to “bring a sense of multidimensional context to
words,” Collins said. GIFs and other media are able to communicate tone where words
can’t, whether it be sarcasm, excitement, cynicism, or anger, he said.

Guidelines to Foster Communication

The ideal workplace communication environment should empower employees to have “critical
conversations that ultimately move the needle on business goals,” Engle said. In practice,
that means workers are open and willing to give feedback, willing to confront each
other respectfully, and participate in meetings where they feel they’re being heard,
she said.

To achieve this, HR needs to invest in training employees at all levels of the company
on communication guidelines, Engle said. “The notion that senior leadership really
owns the conversation is not as true as it was a decade ago,” she added.

The age differences within the workforce matter, because there are preferred styles
of communication based on age. “You can’t be one-size-fits-all with a multigenerational
workforce,” he said.

The type of work the organization performs and how collaborative/communicative the
average employee’s job is are also factors.

“Rules of engagement” should be designed by senior leadership. These rules should
cover what kinds of communications are appropriate on different platforms, such as
when it’s all right to text, email, call, or instant message. “Writing a report should
be more formal, while a check-in can be more casual,” Collins said.

Once defined, communications guidelines should be part of the organization’s onboarding
process, Collins added. It can have “a great positive impact,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Genevieve Douglas in Washington at
gdouglas@bna.com

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